4of8The wine list and gregarious staff are also meant to draw return patrons.Photo: James Nielsen, Staff

5of8The casual décor of the new Max's Wine Dive is designed to bring customers back.Photo: James Nielsen, Staff

6of8One of the Discovery and Selections wines and corks in wine rack room divider at the new Max's Wine Dive on Fairview Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014, in Houston. As the bottle of wines are sold the corks from wines sales are added to the rack, once full the corks will be donated to Young Texans Against Cancer.
( James Nielsen / Houston Chronicle )Photo: James Nielsen, Staff

When Michael Pellegrino looks at meatloaf and mashed potatoes, he doesn't necessarily see the same thing everyone else does. He peers beyond the typical meat tablet and creamy mashers and imagines all of the savory possibilities of the dinner-table staple.

Present any American comfort dish to him, and he can find a way to twist it up and turn it inside out. But that's what's made Pellegrino's dishes so joyous, surprising and downright crave-able in the five years he's cooked at Max's Wine Dive on Washington.

He now has another playground for his kid-in-a-candy-store culinary enthusiasm. Last week, Houston's second Max's Wine Dive opened on Fairview in Montrose, and Pellegrino wasted no time in crafting a menu that will distinguish the new restaurant from its older Washington sister, even though he's executive chef for both.

His imagination didn't fail him. He filled his side of the menu (divided between "classic" Max dishes and Pellegrino's chef-driven specials) with a toy box full of clever new dishes: pork "wings" with burgundy/hoisin barbecue sauce; jerk duck confit pies; "clam chowder" fondue with sourdough pretzels; pork tenderloin with crawfish boudin risotto; vegetarian jambalaya; and braised chicken with sriracha dumplings. Oh, and his meatloaf? It's made with ground lamb slicked with a juniper demiglace gravy and served with brie-whipped potatoes.

"It's amazing how much you can explore with comfort food in general," Pellegrino said. "When you think about it, there's so much you can do. It's endless. My cooking style has become more varied and open to the possibilities of what comfort food can be."

Comfort-food staples (such as Max's famous fried chicken) happily co-existing with comfort-food reboots is what made Max's a success. Oh, and pouring a lot of fun and funky wine. Max's now has six stores born from the original Wine Dive on Washington opened in December 2006. The company branched out to Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth and is ready to conquer Atlanta and Chicago in April, followed by Denver in July.

The beauty of the brand, Pellegrino said, is it works in any city. After all, who doesn't like American comfort food? he asked. Plus, local flavors can always come out in the daily chef-driven specials. It's a win/win for chefs, he said.

And that's what's kept Pellegrino in his post for so long. He said he's free to riff endlessly on the classics. "It's taking the idea of the food you had as a child and elevating it to your adult palate," he said.

Not every reinterpretation works. Pellegrino laughs recalling his attempt at a "French toast waffle" in which he took a waffle and tried to dip it in an egg bath and fry it. "It ruined everything that was good about them," he said.

But when things work, including his brunch item of fried chicken wings with maple-glazed doughnuts, it can be a glorious thing. "At the end of the day, we want great flavor and a little surprise," he said.

He looks for those surprises everywhere. Pellegrino is an avid cookbook reader and collector. "I draw my inspirations from everything," he said. One of his new favorite flavorings is substituting Chinese black vinegar for Worcestershire sauce. A dash in his meatloaf makes a big difference, he said. "It's a crazy combination," he said. "Use it whenever the recipe calls for Worcestershire."

It's more than just innovative food that makes Max's popular. Cultivating a welcoming neighborhood vibe that people will want to come to again and again is part of Max's charm, Pellegrino said.

"There's a lot of talented chefs and a lot of great places to eat and drink great wine in Houston," he said. "But what we do is build relationships and experiences." Each staff works to develop the personality and encourage regulars, he added.

The wine list, the casual décor, the changing artwork, the big open kitchen and the gregarious staff all conspire to create a winning restaurant. Oh, and let's not forget dishes such as chicken-fried ribeye with boudin gravy and jalapeño Cheddar grits.

Greg Morago was a features editor and reporter for The Hartford Courant for 25 years before joining the Houston Chronicle as food editor in 2009. He writes about food, restaurants, spirits, travel, fashion and beauty. He is a native Arizonan and member of the Pima tribe of the Gila River Indian Community.